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Quitting Smoking and Seniors' Hearts

Study found reduced death rates from heart-related causes within 8 years

WebMD News from HealthDay

WebMD News Archive

By Dennis Thompson

HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, Nov. 20, 2013 (HealthDay News) -- Seniors who quit smoking cut their risk of death by heart disease much more quickly than previously thought, particularly if they were light-to-moderate smokers, a new study says.

Past estimates held that it takes smokers about 15 years after they quit to lower their risk of heart attack, heart failure or stroke to that enjoyed by people who never smoked, said lead author Dr. Ali Ahmed, senior study researcher. Ahmed is a professor of cardiovascular disease at the University of Alabama at Birmingham's School of Medicine.

But a new examination of 853 former smokers aged 65 and older found that many with a light-to-moderate smoking history can cut their risk in eight years or less, Ahmed said.

"Even though they quit only eight years ago, because they smoked less they were able to become like never-smokers in half the time," Ahmed said, citing findings he is scheduled to present Wednesday at the American Heart Association's annual meeting in Dallas.

Ahmed and his colleagues analyzed 13 years of medical information compiled by the U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute to compare 853 people who had quit smoking 15 or fewer years ago with about 2,500 people who had never smoked. Half the smokers surveyed quit eight or fewer years before.

The researchers defined light smokers as people who had smoked less than 32 "pack years." This adds up to 3.2 packs a day for 10 years, or less than one pack a day for 30 years. About 37 percent of the former smokers fell into this category.

American Heart Association past president Dr. Gordon Tomaselli said that's a pretty generous definition of light smoking. "A pack a day for 32 years, that's not light," he said.

Light-to-moderate smokers who more recently quit had just a 14 percent chance of dying from heart disease, heart attack or stroke, compared with a 22 percent chance for former heavy smokers. People who never smoked had a 17 percent chance of death due to heart health problems.